Cracked pump

[SB2015]

My Medtronic pump cracked.

Okay I had dropped it and it landed on a wooden floor, and it was a soft fall as it gave the tube a good tug on my cannula.
They were very efficient at sending out a new one, then came the set up. I had time to do this slowly And sat with the two next to each other and just entered all the profiles and ratios. Took time but know that I know the pump it was a lot easier than the first time.

I was warned that I needed a time in manual with the sensor whilst the pump got to know my insulin needs before going into auto mode. A bit irritating but good for a practice for those times when this might be necessary. All good and decided to wait until Monday before switching from old to new, so that I had access to the UK support team if there were problems. All good and went smoothly except …… I forgot to select my basal profile, so in the middle of the night I woke with BG 24 and high ketones. It took a bit of time through the fog to realise that the profile the pump had defaulted to was one I had not programmed so it was delivering no basal insulin. This had been masked during the Day as we had gone out walking and I was doing corrections. It was only at night once any corrections ran out that the problem became obvious. I did wonder why the graph was bonkers during the day but the only comparison I had was when things did not go well when I started on this pump.

All settled now. I wonder whether I would bother with a crack next time and would perhaps just glue it!!!
I am now looking at a cover for my pump to protect it. I do that for my phone and this is a it more important.
It was never an issue before as on the Combo it was tucked away all day.

 

[trophywench]

Plus I reckon Combos are made of very much stronger stuff than I ever expected - mine's usually in a pocket of whatever trousers I'm wearing so I dash to the loo, pull trousers etc down, plonk myself down, and as waistband is further down my legs than strictly needed cos I was in a rush and the cannula is in my bum, the pump comes out of the pocket and swings on the tubing, Smack! it goes, as it hits the porcelain of the pan .... or the wall, or whatever it happens to meet. Plus as you say - with the Roche we don't have to keep getting the pump itself out, to do things.

With the best will in the world - I really do not know in another 5 years whether I will have the brain capacity to start with a completely different make of pump and on reflection it may have been barmy of me to have another Combo - but it was either a Tandem (and the reservoir seemed VERY fiddly) a Medtronic 640, a Combo or an Omnipod. Nowt else on offer.

 

[JohnWhi]

At the beginning its last year of use, my Medtronic 640 developed a large crack down the side without any rough treatment that I know of. As it was still working, I simply ignored it, drawing attention to it when the pump was exchanged. ("Oh yes, that does happen!") On the high BG, if SmartGuard had started, I have seen that if you go above 22.2 it tends to give a grumpy error message and shut down completely, stopping all delivery. Whether that was a local bug or "behaviour as intended" is another question.

 

[helli]

I got a crack in my previous pump (not a Medtronic) and they were very keen for me to stop using it as soon as possible.
I know it was no longer water proof but I think there was another reason. I for get why now but I would not be leaving my life in the hands of a known faulty piece of kit. I would rather go through the hassle of replacing it and the "relearning". AS you say, it is. a good thing to be able to do as the auto-mode can fail ... as can a pump.

 

[SB2015]

I got a crack in my previous pump (not a Medtronic) and they were very keen for me to stop using it as soon as possible.
I know it was no longer water proof but I think there was another reason. I for get why now but I would not be leaving my life in the hands of a known faulty piece of kit. I would rather go through the hassle of replacing it and the "relearning". AS you say, it is. a good thing to be able to do as the auto-mode can fail ... as can a pump.

they did say to me when I reported it “we need to tell you that you now need to your backup, such as pens’. The crack was in the battery compartment and I decided just to stay on it until I was ready to switch.

It is interesting that at Medtronic they seem to expect cracks @JohnWhi . I did not set any alarms on the pump as I was going to a funeral and didn’t want alarms going off. I should have then set them overnight. It was my glucose meter that gave me the good news of potty levels, along with a rather steep line.

I am sorely tempted to switch to auto now that things have settled but as it gathers a minimum of seven days data in settling it’s initial basal profile. I shall try to wait until next Wed so that the wobbly day is Not included.